As its name implies, hiking is an activity that is carried out on trails and paths that exist in natural environments. Hiking is a sport that is always carried out in open and natural spaces and one of its most important features is that it allows you to exercise while enjoying the view and getting to know different types of landscapes. Hiking, then, is carried out both for sporting purposes and for recreational and pleasure purposes. Because there are different types of trails and routes, this activity can become appropriate for different people, both young and old, since the level of demand and difficulty to be traversed depends on each one.
Hiking is an activity that always existed if it is considered as walking or marching in outdoor spaces. However, it is not until recent times that it also came to be considered a sport with specific equipment. Unlike other activities that are based on walking through natural spaces (such as running, trekking, mountaineering, etc.), hiking does not involve a great level of complexity or a great amount of physical effort. This does not mean that it does not represent exercise or caloric expenditure, but rather that a demanding and demanding preparation is not necessary to be able to do it. Normally, both trekking and mountaineering involve a much higher level of effort and demand.
As mentioned before, hiking is one of the few activities that can be carried out by almost anyone, even the elderly. There are many natural spaces specially arranged and adapted to the needs of this activity, with more or less signposted and marked paths to facilitate orientation.
Another of the possibilities of hiking is that, being such a wide activity, it can be carried out in any type of landscape or space. While mountaineering is an activity to be done in mountainous areas, hiking can be enjoyed on thousands of different soils and terrains.
